Kalimat Publishing Group, the award-winning publisher of Arabic children’s books, organised five days book fair and reading session at the Australian International School in Sharjah, in a bid to foster a love of reading and deep engagement with books among young students, develop their cognitive and linguistic skills, and expand and enrich their vocabularies.

The list of books on display at the book fair included several publications that target a wide range of age groups and address educational and entertaining topics, related to children’s interests such as relationships with parents, relocating to a new school, how to spend time in useful activities, how to deal with animals, how to go shopping, and other topics related to the general culture.

Alongside the book fair, Kalimat organised a reading session for author Rai Abdulal, who read her book Moshkila Sagheera (A little Problem). This delightful title tells the story of a little girl who wishes to grow up like her sister and brother so that she can get more pocket money and be allowed to sit in the front seat of the car. Over the course of the story the little girl, however, realises that if she grows up she will have more school duties and will not enjoy playing with her dolls and eating candy, nor will she get the chance to sit on her grandfather’s lap as she does now. Therefore, she continues searching for a solution.

Students expressed their delight with the book fair at their school. They interacted with the reading session and shared their ideas and suggestions about the course of events and how they expected the story to end with the author. They expressed their appreciation for this initiative which encourages children to acquire knowledge outside the boundaries of the curriculum, gives them opportunity to access the wonderful world of reading, and enjoy reading and listening to stories that tackle important topics of day to day life.

Tamer Said, Business Development Manager at Kalimat Publishing Group, said: “This fair and the reading session are part of Kalimat’s commitment to enhance a love of reading among children. We are keen to bring authors, illustrators, children, and teachers together in an educational and fun environment. Our hope is that the books that we organise reading sessions for, will touch children’s hearts and aspirations, quench their thirst for knowledge, and help instil in them the right values and principles enabling them to excel and innovate.”

Established in 2007, Kalimat is the first publishing house in the UAE dedicated solely to publishing and distributing high quality Arabic children’s books. With over 140 publications to its credit since inception, Kalimat is one of a few Arabic publishing houses effective in selling translation and publishing rights of its books to foreign countries

Kalimat aims to disseminate Arabic children’s books through to the international market in order to foster greater compassion and cultural understanding among future generations, and thereby give children from all across the globe the opportunity to get a glimpse into the rich multi-layered fabric of Arab society.